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Lemons for your Loveliness

Lemons have been cultivated by the western world since the 15th century. Christopher Columbus introduced lemon seeds to the Americas where lemons’ main functions were ornamental and medicinal. Then during the mid 1700s, James Lind experimented with lemons on men suffering from scurvy at sea and found this disease was minimized by adding lemon juice to the men’s diet.

Lemons have gone on to feature significantly in our daily lives through cooking, industrial applications such as fermentation, in cleaning agents, aromatherapies and beauty treatments.

Protect your hands:Before gardening it is helpful to insert a little white soap underneath your nails to prevent discolouration. Wear gloves at all times and after washing, rinse with lemonized water and apply some lemon lotion (you can make this yourself). This is important as the skin on your hands contains fewer oil glands so they dry out more readily.

Keep Beauty Aids in your Kitchen:It is a good idea to keep half a lemon in a saucer (cut side down) and apply it to your hands immediately after washing with soap or cleansing powder. This will neutralize and alkali and remove stains. Also leave a cut lemon in the fridge to destroy onion and fish odours.

Keep them manicured:Before your hands have a manicure, dip a cotton tip orange stick into a cup of warm lemonized water and clean your nails first. Your polish will hold better with clean, lemonized nails.

For your Elbows: Just because you don’t see your elbows, don’t think they escape the eyes of others. Keep them soft and smooth with lemon lotion. If they are in bad condition, scrub them with warm, soapy water and a pumice stone. One authority on beauty suggests placing your elbows in two halves of a cut lemon for a few moments each day.

Use as a Mouthwash: Half a lemon in water makes a delightfully refreshing mouthwash and kills odours.

Oatmeal-Egg-Lemon Mask:Combine one egg white and the juice of one lemon. Mix and add sufficient almond meal to make a thin paste. Apply to face and leave to dry then rinse with lemonized water.

Almond Oil Lemon Lotion:Combine four parts sweet almond oil, one part fresh lemon juice and a few drops of your favorite perfume. Shake well and use often.

Lemon Hand Lotion:Combine two parts of fresh lemon juice, one part glycerine and one part rubbing alcohol. Perfume as desired.

Lemon Ice:Two parts fresh lemon juice with one part water. Freeze into cubes.

Lemon-Egg Shampoo:Combine the yolk of one egg, one tablespoon of olive oil, juice from half a lemon and stir with an egg beater. Rub well into scalp, rinse with warm water containing lemon juice from one and a half lemons for final rinse, shine and softness.

Excerpts from the book:Lemons for Your Loveliness, by California Fruit Growers Exchange, 1935

For more beauty tips and fashion tricks, visit The Lindy Charm School for Girls at the Sydney Vintage Fair, September 27 – 29, 2013

The wait is over! Melbourne, look out – the Love Vintage & Retro Fair is coming your way May 16 - 18… then we’ll see you in Brisbane July 18 – 20 and in Sydney September 26 - 28. So mark your calendar!This issue has been perfectly timed so you can get excited about some of the vintage exhibitors you’ll see at the fair this year. Jason from Bleecker Street takes us to the vintage alleyways of Italy and France on a quest to find that to-die-for piece. And while we’re talking travel, if you’re thinking of having a New Zealand vintage experience, everything you need to know can be found in ‘Not So New’ Zealand. Get ‘up close and personal’ with Tara Moss for her vintage transformation at a recent styling workshop with Miss Chrissy. Go behind the scenes with movie costume designers Marian Boyce AND Gigi LePage. PLUS – be one of the first 500 through the fair doors in Melbourne to grab a special movie deal pass to Grace of Monaco starring Nicole Kidman (in cinemas this June).A couple of tickets to the Love Vintage and Retro Fair are the perfect Mother’s Day gift. At just $20 for two, get yours now (or get someone to buy them for you!). What are you waiting for?